The Whale Rider

“No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark” this quote by  Warsan Shire

In the movie – The Squid and the Whale, the movie is about two boys that live in Brooklyn, NY who are dealing with their parents’ divorce in the late 1980’s.

Many voyages that heroin’s encounter are regularly identified with the four mythical functions. In the film, Whale Rider, through mythical creation powers, the hero endeavors to save her dying culture. The creation myths power permits the courageous woman, Pai, to find her actual calling as a real leader of the Maori tribe. By utilizing the myths, she dynamically finds her legend 's adventure by breaking down the images throughout her life. "According to Campbell as discussed in Indick article, this model “The Monomyth” has different functions" as he clarifies the sociological, mysterious, cosmological, and mental elements of myth (pg, 2). Campbell depicts the vital capacities including myths as "legendary or traditional story, typically

Niki Caro’s film, Whale Rider, beautifully captures the small village of Whangara, which is located in the northeast of New Zealand’s North Island. The film portrays a Maori tribe that tells the story of a long-held tradition. This film is rich in symbolism, which is easy for any viewer to understand. Whale Rider does a wonderful job of capturing the attention of the audience because of the intense and close relationships between the characters, the way Caro conveys the movie’s message, and the features the movie offers.

When choosing a film for this assignment, my original choice was Bend It Like Beckham because I had heard of it and I had a general idea what it was about. I then decided that I wanted to take on a more challenging film, one that I had never heard of, and one that I would really have to study to understand its full meaning. After looking into a few of the listed movies, I ended up choosing Whale Rider, a drama filmed in New Zealand in 2002. After watching the movie two times, I feel that I now understand some of the more drastic cultural and gender based problems that are occurring today.

The meaning of sexism in the oxford dictionary is ‘Prejudice, stereotyping or discrimination on the basis of sex’ (Oxford Dictionaries). Being a teenager from a liberal society, I think of sexism as when either of the sex is being considered inferior to the other and is not given equal opportunities to earn a place in society. A few decades ago such discrimination was experienced by women when they had no rights to pursue their passions or create their own identity in society. In India, parts of East Asia as well as in New Zealand women were even not allowed to decide on own marriage, which was a monumental event in their lives. In my view, their lives at that time had no difference from the lives of a servant. When they came to their husband’s

In the film 'Whale Rider', by Niki Caro which follows the journey of a young girl named Paikea Apirana and her struggle for acceptance as a leader of her Māori iwi, and especially her grandfather. An important character in this film is Pai herself. This character has significant importance as she is used to portray numerous important ideas and themes throughout the film. Pai helps me to understand and appreciate that women can also be leaders that are equal to men if they have the right attributes. The director Niki Caro uses numerous different film techniques to convey this idea, such as; the camera shots and camera angles when Pai is giving her speech to Koro, the use of camera angles and props in relation to the dialogue when Pai if fixing the motorboat engine, and the use of props when Pai is teaching herself to use the Taiaha.

Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.”

John Longridge agrees to take care of his friend’s three pets, Luath, a young Labrador, Bodger, an old Bull Terrier, and Tao, a Siamese cat while the family is out of the country. Everything is fine until Longridge lives on a trip and the pets decide to find their way home on their own through the outback of the Canadian wilderness. Each of the pets faces an almost life ending peril during the trip. Bodger is attacked by a baby bear, Tao almost drowns in a river, and Luath suffers from severe infection from porcupine quills. Along the way the three friends encounter many different people, some are helpful and others are downright mean to them. But at the end of the story, they are reunited safe and sound with their family. The themes of

Many in the world struggle to keep sight of who they are in a society that pushes its expectations upon people. Everyone has different ideas and experiences dealing with the world around them, and depending on who one is, simply staying true to one’s core identity can be a challenge. As Ralph Waldo Emerson, an accomplished poet, wrote, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” I agree, as constant exposure to a world that prefers a person in a different form gets exhausting, and it takes true strength to persevere in spite of that. Whale Rider, Things Fall Apart, and Danger of a Single Story all provide solid evidence that the environment around a person affects their

With success come some of the greatest stories of how people got to that spot. If you do try for something almost never will you be rewarded for that particular thing. This plays a role in both of the following books. In Whale Talk TJ must give this team and swimming his all to get what he wants in getting his team a varsity letter. When new requirements set back the team from getting their varsity letter TJ take it upon himself to lead and set an example for the rest of his team. Notably, in the book Summer Ball after Danny finds out about what people actually think about him. He takes accepts it and goes harder in camp. He takes nothing for granted anymore.

Throughout “Whale Rider” Paikea is expected to listen to what her grandpa tells her to do and say. Personally, Paikea feels conflicted and under pressure to stick to her grandpas rules, as she wants to go her own way. Her grandpa finds it hard to see Paikea as her own person and can’t accept modernity, which he is not used to. He also stops her from learning the ways of a Maori chief, which is something she still tries to do in secret with the help of the rest of her family. Koro sometimes fails to see what Paikea can do, as he feels very strongly about old traditions, but other times he sees what she can do and fails to appreciate it. Paikea just wants to be loved and accepted by her grandfather and her strong sense of leadership and determination to get that from him leaves her as a role model to others to be brave and to never stop until they get what they want.

Rawiri plays an important role in the novel which helped unfolding the events, ranging from minor to significant ones. He relates the events in the ‘Whale Rider’ as the role of the narrator, allowing the readers to form judgements and learn about things such as the Maori way of life and the characters through his eyes. He also give us his insights as he highlights themes and issues mentioned, like racial discrimination. Besides that, he is the one who sees the many signs of Kahu’s destiny as the leader of the tribe, piecing up a complete picture of her eventual rise as the leader. Additionally, he is her guardian, always protecting and looking out for her. With his carefree personality, he often provides comic relief especially in times of

The story of Whale Rider takes place in a Maori village in New Zealand. The main character is a 12 year old girl name Paikea “Pai” Apirana and her ambition to become the next Chief of her village. Along with following on Pai’s story, the movie showed a great number of local Maori religion and culture. Some of the things I will explore is the Maori religion, gender roles, and a personal reflection on what was learned through the movie.

This book really grabbed me right from the beginning of the story. The story begins with the birth of fraternal twins, with the grandfather patiently awaiting the birth of the son. Right away I felt sadness when the mother and one of the twins die. The boy dies and the girl survives. The grandpa seems to not care about the girl who survived . He was longing for his grandson because he is from the Maori tribe and the tribe is waiting for the sign of a new chief to be born . The chief would lead the village and its community to greatness. Many elders have been born but none with the strength to be the next chief. The little girl was named Pai. The grandma of Pai took her home to raise her along with the grandfather. The grandfather showed